(a)

the report summarised the work undertaken by Devon Audit Partnership during 2013/14, reviewed the performance and effectiveness of the Internal Audit service and provided an audit opinion on the adequacy of internal control;

(b)

Internal Audit was able to provide reasonable assurance on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Authority’s internal control framework;

(c)

the 2013/14 Audit Plan was subject to change due to the emergence of the Transformation Programme and audit resources had been targeted in response to the far reaching changes that were being proposed. As a result, some work originally included within the 2013/14 audit plan was no longer relevant or had been deferred to a later date to fit with client needs and current objectives, especially within ICT;

(d)

the audit plan set out the business objectives which included the following challenges and opportunities: transformational change, partnering and collaboration, commissioning, information technology, financial and operational constraint and compliance and regularity;

(e)

issues contained within the Internal Audit Assurance Work included support of the implementation boards, review of partner contracts, advice on procurement processes, service management reviews, advice on reduction in control framework and  compliance reviews on all material systems;

(f)

the Audit coverage and performance against the plan for 13/14 showed that there was a small variance in outturn against target for audits provided during the year; there was an increase in work linked to fraud investigation and irregularity work;

(g)

an analysis of customer survey results between April 2013 and March 2014 showed that the majority of customers were very satisfied with work undertaken;

(h)

based on audits completed and on indications from previous and on-going work, it was considered that material systems controls for the Transformation and Change department (formally Corporate Services) had either been maintained or improvements were being made to address identified weaknesses;

(i)

it was considered that during the 2013/14 financial year and in previous years, adequate controls were in place to control operations within the People department; where weaknesses were identified management had agreed these findings and had either agreed the recommendations or accepted the associated risks; a significant amount of time was spent undertaking investigations within this department which had an impact upon Internal Audit’s delivery against the agreed audit plan;

(j)

Internal auditors were not in a position to provide an overall opinion for the Public Health directorate as work planned towards the end of the 2013/14 financial year was deferred at the Interim Director of Public Health’s request;

(k)

it was considered that overall work had continued to confirm that adequate controls were in place in the Place Directorate; management had generally responded positively to Internal Audit’s recommendations to improve controls and reduce exposure to risk;

(l)

schools were considered to be of a good standard; recommendations had been made to reduce risks and in other areas recommendations made to strengthen reasonably reliable procedures.

(m)

ICT Financial Management was of a good standard with effective, if time consuming, processes in place to monitor budgets on a regular basis; it was considered that the inputting of data was more time consuming that anticipated however as a result of a recent restructure an advisor had been employed for six months to advise on contract management to make this area more efficient;

(n)

the Civic Centre had not yet sold, the risk was associated with the sale of the building however it was still for sale should a prospective buyer become known; the sale of the Civic Centre continued to be on the risk register and an update was provided in the Annual Governance Statement attached to the agenda;

(o)

officers had concerns regarding the duplication of effort and possible introduction of error as a consequence of the need for two ICT systems to undertake all the necessary Disclosure and Barring Service functions; this was linked to a project to install a new HR Payroll System however the equipment used wasn’t sufficiently developed to undertake all functions. It was considered that staff were working in an efficient and accurate manner with both ICT systems and  quality assurance checks were built into the process;

(p)

Plymouth City Council had to discharge their homelessness duty tenancies for a minimum of 12 months;

(q)

Officers confirmed that ‘reasonable assurance’ was a good standard for Audit assurance opinion as Officers only sampled a range of things.

1.

the Internal Audit – Annual Audit Report 2013/14 is noted;

2.

agenda items 11 (Audit Plan including Interim Results) and agenda item 13 (External Audit Plan Progress report) are brought forward immediately after the completion of this item to facilitate good meeting management.